Display Care Guide
Keep your display looking beautiful all season long with a few simple care tips for your pumpkins, mums, and fall décor.
Help Your Display Flourish
Your custom pumpkin display was thoughtfully designed to bring warmth, beauty, and a welcoming touch to your home throughout the fall season. With just a little routine care, your pumpkins, mums, gourds, and other seasonal elements can stay looking their best for weeks to come.
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to protect your pumpkins and extend the life of your display. Our goal is to help you enjoy your fall display for as long as possible while making your experience simple, beautiful, and stress-free.
Explore the care tips below to keep your porch looking fresh, vibrant, and ready to welcome family, friends, and all the memories that fall has to offer.
Steps We Take To Help Keep Your Display Looking It's Best
Freshly harvested pumpkins.
We harvest your pumpkins as close to your delivery date as possible, ensuring they arrive fresh from the farm.While most pumpkins will last through Halloween (and many through Thanksgiving) weather, sunlight, moisture, and temperature changes can naturally affect their lifespan.
Natural rot prevention.
Before delivery, each pumpkin is carefully inspected by hand and washed with a mild vinegar solution to help reduce the risk of rot. This helps pumpkins long into the season!
Natural critter deterrent.
We also spray your pumpkins with a gentle peppermint solution at the time of delivery to help discourage squirrels and other critters.
Your mums are ready to thrive.
Before arriving at your home, we water your mums thoroughly and provide them with plant food.
A few extras included.
We've included a few extra pumpkins in various sizes with your display in case any are damaged by critters or naturally begin to spoil before the season ends.
Steps You Can Take To Keep Your Display Looking It's Best
A little care goes a long way in helping your pumpkins and mums stay beautiful throughout the fall season.
Inspect your display every few days.
Remove any pumpkins that begin to soften, wrinkle, or leak to help keep your display looking fresh.
Extra critter protection.
If needed, you can lightly spray a mild peppermint solution on your pumpkins to help deter squirrels and other critters, especially after periods of heavy rain. We are happy to provide a complimentary peppermint spray upon request at the time of delivery. You may also sprinkle cinnamon or chili powder around your pumpkins to make them less appealing to wildlife. Please note that these methods are intended to discourage animals, not eliminate them entirely, as wildlife activity can vary depending on your location and the surrounding environment.
Water your mums regularly.
Water daily or every other day, or whenever the top inch of soil feels dry. Keep the soil consistently moist, but not soggy. Mums absorb water through their roots, so pour water directly onto the soil or into the basin beneath the plant.
Helpful Tips for a Beautiful Fall
Here are a few extra tips to get the most out of your display this season:
"NEW" Pre-Halloween Refresh Service
Forget to water your mums regularly? Don't fret! If you'd like your display looking picture-perfect for Halloween, consider adding our Pre-Halloween Refresh Service to your order. We'll return during Halloween week to replace any pumpkins or mums that are no longer at their best, tidy the display area, and refresh the arrangement so it's ready for trick-or-treaters and fall gatherings. Dead mums? We'll swap them out for fresh color. That one pumpkin that didn't make it? We'll replace it with a fresh one. This service offers extra peace of mind during the busiest season, ensuring your display looks fresh and festive through the end of the season.
Caring for Your Porch
We take several precautions to help protect your porch, including placing basins beneath all mums and following best practices to extend the life of your pumpkins. Because pumpkins, hay bales, and mums are natural materials, exposure to moisture and rain may occasionally cause staining or discoloration on certain surfaces. Pumpkins can sometimes leave marks or discoloration as they naturally break down, while hay bales may leave stains caused by the natural tannins found in straw. In many cases, these marks are temporary. Remove any pumpkins that begin to soften, wrinkle, or leak to help keep your display looking fresh. Whenever possible, we place hay bales under covered porches or in other protected areas to help reduce the risk of staining. Red Wagon Pumpkins cannot guarantee that staining or discoloration will not occur. If you have concerns about your porch or surface materials, we are always happy to discuss placement options or substitutions before installation. We also offer comparable substitutions for hay bales and mums upon request when arranged in advance.
Pumpkin Disposal
Pumpkins are organic materials and should not be thrown away with regular household trash whenever possible. When sent to landfills, pumpkins decompose without adequate oxygen and can contribute to methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that impacts the environment. Donating pumpkins to local farms is a more sustainable alternative that reduces waste while providing enrichment and treats for many animals. If you choose to include our End-of-Season Removal Service, your pumpkins will be donated to local non-profit farms, such as Blue Iris Farm. Blue Iris Farm is a nonprofit sanctuary dedicated to rescuing neglected and abused farm animals and providing transformative experiences for people through connection with animals, nature, education, and adventure. It’s a thoughtful way to extend the life of your display, support rescue animals, and simplify your post-season cleanup. Add the End-of-Season Removal Service option to your order during checkout to reduce waste and make a heartwarming impact!
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